Wire-strainer.



E. E. MOFFITT.

WIRE STRAINER. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 2's. 1914.

1 1 79, 1 32 Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- FIG. J.

WITNESSA'S ERNEST EDWARD MOFFITT, OF ACKLINGTON, ENGLAND.

WIRE-STRAINER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

Application filed August 26, 1914. Serial 0. 858,613. I

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST EDWARD Mor- FITT, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Acklington, in the county of Northumberland, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in Wire-Strainers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to wire-strainers, and has for its object to provide an improved appliance which can be readily fitted to any fence-post, telegraph post or the like for the purpose of straining the wires to be attached thereto.

A wire-strainer in accordance with this invention comprises a bracket having lateral arms, means for clamping said bracket to a fence-post or telegraph-post, a lever pivoted to said bracket and working in a vertical plane between said arms, means such as a guide roller or rollers on said bracket, for guiding the wire to be strained to said lever, means for clamping said wire to the lever comprising a roller on the lever and a clamp adapted to co-act with said roller, and means for holding the wire in its strained position comprising a clamp adapted to co-act with the guide roller on the bracket.

I will fully describemy invention wlth reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate one construction of wirestrainer in accordance therewith.

In the drawings Figure l is a side elevation showing the position of the'parts of the appliance before straining the wire; Fig. 2 is a plan; Fig. 3 is a view looking on the right-hand end of Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a similar view to Fig. 1 showing the position of the parts of the appliance after straining the wire.

The fence-post is omitted from Fig. 3 for clearness.

Referring to the drawings, the wire strainer therein illustrated comprises a bracket 1 provided with lateral arms 2, 2 through which passes a bar 3 carrying at one end a .clamping screw 4. A lever 5 is pivoted at 6 to a lug 7 on the bracket 1 so that it can be moved in a vertical plane between the arms 2, 2. On the lever 5 is mounted a roller 8 and an eccentrically-pivoted clamp 9. A curved guide 10 is provided on the bracket 1, said guide being secured at one end to the vertical member 11 and at the other end to the horizontal member 12 of the bracket 1. The guide 10 is embraced between one side of the lever 5 and a strap 13 thereon and serves to brace the lever agamst any untoward side strain. The guide 10 may in some cases pass through a slot in the lever 5. Mounted on the vertical member 11 of the bracket 1 is a guide roller 14 with which co-acts a second eccentricallypivoted clamp 15.

In use, the bracket 1 is secured to the.

fence-post 16 as shown in Fig. 1, the post being clamped between a plate 17 on the end of the clamping screw 4 and an abutment 18 carried by the bracket 1, the vertical member 11 of the bracket 1 lying against one side of the post 16.

19 is a handle by which the clamping screw 4 can be turned to advance or retract the plate 17. The bar 3, which carries the clamping screw 4, is provided with a series of holes 20- 20 into one of which a pin 21 can be inserted, said pin co-acting with one of the arms 2. By adjusting the bar 3 in the arms 2, 2 the clamping device can be roughly adjusted to suit the size of'the fence-post to which the appliance is to be secured, and the clamping screw 4 can be employed for securely clamping the appliance to the post. As will be readily seen, by reversing the bar 3 in .the bracket 1, the bracket can be secured with its guide roller 14 at the other side of the fence-post, and thus the wire can be operated on at either side as may be required. The appliance having been secured to the fence-post, the free end of the wire .22 to be strained is passed over the guide roller l4on the bracket 1 and over the roller 8 on the lever 5, and is clamped between the roller 8 and the eccentrically-pivoted clamp 9, as shown in Fig. 1. The pivoted lever 5 is then pulled over into the position shown in Fig. 4, thus straining or pulling the wire 22. The wire is then clamped between the guide roller 14 and the eccentrically-pivoted clamp 15 on the bracket, as shown in Fig. 4, and the clamp 9 on the lever released from the wire, when the lever can be moved back into its original position and the wire again clamped between the roller 8 and the clamp 9 on the lever and further strained or pulled. The straining operation is repeated until the wire is sufliciently taut, when it is secured to the fence-post as usual. In operation, it will be found that the eccentrically-pivoted clamp 15 will work almost automatically, clamping the wire against the guide roller 14; when it is released from between the clamp 9 and roller 8 on the lever, and permitting movement of the wire when it is strained by the lever. Preferably the clamps 9 and 15 will be provided with notches or roughened portions as shown to more readily grip the wire.

If desired, a supplementary guide roller similar to the guide roller 14: may be pr0- vided near the bottom of the bracket 1 as indicated in dot-and-dash lines at 23 in Figs. 1 and 1. When it is desired'to strain a wire intended to be secured to the fence-post near to the ground, the Wire can be passed around said supplementary guide roller and then up and around the guide roller 14 as before described.

My improved appliance forms a simple and efiicient wire-strainer capable of being readily nXed to any fence-post or telegraphpost. It Will take any size of wire, either plain or barbed, and two or more Wires lyi ing side by side can be simultaneously strained.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A Wire strainer comprising a frame having a post-gripping abutment, a clamping member reversibly engaged with the frame and having a post-gripping jaw adapted to be opposed to the said abutment on either side of the latter, and wire-operating means carried by the frame.

2. A Wire strainer comprising a frame having a post-gripping abutment, a clamping member reversibly and adjustably engaged with the frame and having a postgripping jaw adapted to be opposed to the said abutment on either side of the latter, and Wire-operating means carried by the frame.

3. A Wire strainer comprising a frame having a post-gripping abutment, a clamp ing member reversibly engaged with the frame and having a post-gripping jaw adapted to be opposed to the said abutment on either side of the latter, the said clamping member being capable of rectilinear ad justment with respect to the said abutment, and a movable wire-operating member mounted upon the frame for movement in a direction substantially at right angles to the direction of movement of the clamping member.

4. A wire strainer comprising a frame having a post-gripping abutment and a transverse guideway, an angular clamping member having an arm adapted to be reversibly engaged within the said guideway for sliding adjustment therein, means for securing the said arm in adjusted position within the guideway, the said clamping member having a post-gripplng aw adapt- 5. A wire strainer comprising a post-en gaging bracket, a hand lever pivoted to the bracket, oppositely acting wire take-up devices provided upon both bracket and lever, each of said devices consisting of a guide member over which a Wire is adapted to pass, an eccentric member mounted in opposed relation to the guide member upon a horizontal pivot, and an over-balancing arm carried by the eccentric member and adapted to gravitate normally into operative position to cause the eccentric to approach the guide member.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ERNEST EDWARD MOFFITT.

Witnesses:

HERBERT HOWARD, GEORGE FonsTER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

